184 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



cess is simply the old one, and that the sugar refiners have paid for a pro- 

 cess long since discovered and published. It has been long known that 

 we could make sugar from beets in this country. So we could from Indian 

 cornstalks. This has not been done, because the price of cane sugar ha» 

 remained so low that it would not be profitable. 



Eelievixg Choked Cattle. 



Mr. F. J. Wellington, East Braintree, Vt., and Mr. Wni. H. French, Sa- 

 lem, Columbus county, Ohio, both recommend the use of oil to relieve 

 chok(^d cattle. About half a pint of any kind of oil poured down the throafc 

 of the choked animal, and at the same time rubbing briskly on the outside 

 of the neck, will generally produce relief. 



The Langdon Cultivator. 



In answer to the question. Prof. Mapes stated that this implement was 

 not now manufactured. It has been superseded by one known as the car- 

 rot-weeder, a small V shaped piece of steel, with teeth at the rear to comb 

 out the weeds which it cuts when run just under the surface. 



Cure of Black Knot. 



Mr. George C. Beecher, Rochester, Ohnstead county, Minn., says flat he 

 used to cure black knot, when he lived where it prevailed (Livingston 

 county, N. Y.,) by paring away the knot and washing the limb with super- 

 carbonate of soda in solution. 



Removing Sod Impoverishes Land. 



Mr. James Walker, Orono, Muscatine county, Iowa, says the reisona 

 that the tomato plants, mentioned in a former report, did not grow was 

 because the land was impoveriiehed by the removal of the sods. A piece 

 of c(-rn planted where the prairie sod was removed to build fence, rrew 

 about two feet high as well as that upon the adjoining ground, but lever 

 made any further growth. Land so stripped of sod is rendered unproduc- 

 tive for several years. Mr. W. says that the cause of the sugar cane fall- 

 ing was undoubtedly the chinch bugs, as he had part of a field of b-oom 

 corn destroyed the same way. Tlie bugs weakened the stalks neai the 

 ground, and the weight of the seed heads caused them to fall. 



Mr. L. McBcan, Croxttm, Ohio, wants to know if apple pomace is ■valu- 

 able as manure, and what is the best mode of preserving dried applen 



Uninviting Farming. I 



Mr. J. Plockcr, Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteers, Fort Sully, gives the 

 following uninviting picture of Western farmiiig: "The universal sdccess 

 which has attended the raising of corn, and its subsequent conversioi into 

 pork, has led Wi-stern firmcrs into a mode of agriculture that pres(lnts a 

 very uninviting asp(>ct to visitor or traveler. Orchards old, broken down, 

 moss-grown, are plenty enough, but fruit trees whose smooth bark de:)otc» 

 youth and thrift, and who.se spreading branches give an idea of frujtful- 

 ness, these are very scarce indeed. High bred stock, and even stodt of 

 lower degree, why should it be so scarce when grain is so plenty? CorOi- 



